Lorde has 20 million followers on social media, but for the past two years, she hasn't delighted fans with a single post.
While notoriously private, the 24-year-old singer used to be active on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, but in May 2018, she deleted most posts and stopped sharing content. In a new interview with her friend, Cazzie David for Interview magazine, she opened up about her decision to leave the platforms.
"Part of what made me peace out on social media," she told Larry David's daughter, "apart from feeling like I was losing my free will, was the massive amounts of stress I was feeling about our planet, about systemic racism, and about police brutality in this country."
Lorde said that consuming the culture of social media, "destroys the part of my brain that can make work," asking Cazzie, "how do you balance needing to have your finger on the pulse while also not going insane?"
As Cazzie replied, "In some ways, it's not really a choice. You're amazing in that you've been able to keep your distance from social media, but I'm truly very addicted to it. And in some ways, I want to feel connected to people who also feel confused or depressed or embarrassed by our behavior."
In April 2018, a month before she deleted most of her Instagram posts, Lorde drew controversy over a photo of a bathtub with the caption, "And iiii will always love you." The post seemed to reference Whitney Houston, who accidentally drowned in a hotel tub in 2012 at the age of 48.
Following a backlash, Lorde deleted her photo and wrote on her Instagram Story, "Extremely extremely poorly chosen quote. I'm so sorry for offending anyone—I hadn't even put this together I was just excited to take a bath. I'm an idiot. Love Whitney forever and ever. Sorry again."
Fans were naturally concerned after Lorde deleted most of her Instagram and Twitter posts in 2018. When one of them expressed as much on one of the singer's retained Instagram posts, she replied, "No stress just pulling back the curtain again for a moment. She's a baby writer in search of a legacy... will keep u posted. Love u all so much more than u know."
Lorde also commented she was "more than ok!" writing, "Not needing to recover or pull back from u guys, it's just what I feel is cleanest and most true to me as an artist & musician in 2018. Will still be creeping on u all and commenting, just not going to be posting endless content. Less is always more."
Though she still keeps a low-profile, fans got a rare glimpse of her during a PDA-packed outing with music executive Justin Warren in October. It marked the first time Lorde was photographed in public in more than a year.